Wherever The Path Leads
by Shintou01
Summary: All her life Leaf has wanted to be a Pokémon trainer. Now that her thirteenth birthday has passed and her trainer card has arrived in the mail, she can finally take her first step on her path. The path will be rough, but she will not back down from it. This is her story.


Author's Note: this story is a combination of the original RBY games, the FR/LF remakes, and my own reinterpretations/re-imagining of the world of Pokémon.

Leaf slowly opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling as she heard her alarm blaring from her night table. Without glancing away from the ceiling, she slapped the snooze button on the alarm. As she prepared to huddle underneath the covers to go back to sleep though, she suddenly jerked up and grinned as she remembered what day it was. She quickly glanced over at her calendar to confirm her suspicions and jumped out of bed only to start wringing her hands like there was no tomorrow.

After a few minutes, she finally managed to calm her hands down and took a look at the checklist that she had made the night before and laid next to her PC. From there, she started with her backpack and made sure that everything was in its proper place inside it before she swapped out of her pajamas and into what she had already dubbed her 'traveling clothes'. With that done, she went through her normal morning routine in the bathroom and grabbed her backpack and her hat as she headed downstairs.

"Morning, hun."

"Morning mom," Leaf replied as she walked into the living room and saw her mom watching TV.

"At least on the bright side, I don't have to ask if you're excited about today," her mom said after a few moments as she got up from her seat and approached Leaf.

Leaf looked at her mom for a long moment as she tried to figure out what her mom meant by that before she glanced down and realized that she was wringing her hands again. At the same time, it finally sunk in that she would be meeting so many new people very soon and the realization that she didn't have a clue how any of them would react to someone like her. After a moment, she suddenly felt her mom's arms wrap tightly around her and she felt her breath hitch as she heard her mom begin whispering to her.

"Honey, you'll be fine. I know that meeting other people will be scary, but it'll be fine. There'll be some that won't react well to you, but they'll be few and far in-between, I promise."

Leaf could feel tears beginning to form in her eyes at her mom's words and she knew that she needed to leave soon or she would probably break down crying in her mom's arms. "I'll call you when I reach Viridian. Bye mom," she said as she quickly squeezed her mom back before heading out the door. Just before she closed the front door behind herself though, she could hear her mom call out to her, asking her to be careful. With her body already on auto-pilot though and needing to get away, she couldn't quite manage to say anything in response to her mom before she closed the door behind her and headed away from her house.

Eventually, she found herself standing in front of Professor Oak's research lab and watched as the doors opened automatically. As she stepped inside though, she heard someone calling her name. She glanced around and caught sight of her childhood friend and rival, Blue, standing against a nearby wall. "Hi Blue," she said as she made her way over to him and smiled, "ready for today?"

Blue nodded before he pointed to a table in the center of the lab. "Just waiting on grandpa to get here so that we can get our Pokémon finally. So, have you thought about which one that you're going to pick yet?"

Leaf nodded and had to focus to keep her hands steady at her sides.

"And you're not going to tell me, are you?"

Leaf shook her head.

"Well, fair enough since I wouldn't have told you my pick either," Blue replied with a smirk.

"Ah, Red, Blue. You're both here. Are you two ready for your journey?"

"Yeah, grandpa. We've been waiting on you to finally get here," Blue said before adding, "and her name's Leaf, not Red, remember?"

Professor Oak gave an awkward laugh as he realized his mistake before turning to Leaf. "Yes, yes. My apologies, Leaf. Now, come on you two so that we can get you started on your journeys," he said as he began to walk towards the table in the center of the lab, Blue and Leaf following a few footsteps behind him. "Leaf, why don't you go first?" he said before he gestured at the three Poké balls sitting on the table, "the one on the left is the grass-type Bulbasaur, center is the fire-type Charmander, and to the right is the water-type Squirtle."

Leaf smiled and had to focus on keeping her entire body under control as she suddenly grabbed the Poké ball in the center and rubbed her fingers across the smooth metal, getting a feel of how it felt in her hands.

"Well, I know what my choice is going to be now," Blue said, smirking a little to himself as he grabbed the remaining Poké ball on the right.

Leaf's fingers paused in their gliding over the smooth metal as she looked over at Blue and raised her eyebrow at him. " _'Now'_?" she questioned, saying her first word since Professor Oak's arrival.

"Why do you think that I didn't make a fuss about grandpa letting you go first?"

"Type-advantage."

"Yep, sorry about the lie, but as your rival I can't allow you to start with an advantage over me."

Regardless of him being sorry for the deception though, Leaf still glared at him for a moment before she held her Poké ball out towards him.

"Okay, I got the message," he said before turning to Professor Oak, "hey grandpa, mind if we have a match in here?"

"I actually do mind. If you two want to battle then I suggest using the training area in the back of the lab," Professor Oak replied before he pointed towards a door at the back of the lab.

"Thanks grandpa. You're the best," Blue said as he and Leaf both headed towards the door and made their way through it one after the other.

As Leaf took in the plain metallic room that they found themselves in beyond the door, Blue suddenly coughed from behind her.

"Just out of curiosity, what was up with the silent act earlier, Leaf? Normally, you're anything but quiet around grandpa and me."

"Silent act?" Leaf asked before she realized that she really had been almost entirely silent for most of her conversation with Blue and then with Professor Oak. "Oh sorry, I didn't realize that I was being quiet. I guess that I was just so excited about everything that I forgot to actually talk."

"Nah, nothing to be sorry about. Anyway, you ready?" Blue asked.

Leaf nodded.


End file.
